Research

Framework for measuring the sustainability performance of ecodesign implementation

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Abstract

Companies and academic studies are consistently reporting several potential business benefits gained fromecodesign implementation, such as increased innovation potential, development of new markets and business models, reduction in environmental liability, risks and costs, improvement of organizational brandand legal compliance, among others. However, there is a number of challenges that still hamper corporate adoption of ecodesign, mainly regarding the capture and measurement of the estimated business benefits. Furthermore, ecodesign efforts have been primarily evaluated in terms of environmental performance and product-related (technical) measures, such as shape, material and energy consumption. Because the ecodesign business benefits go beyond the pure environmental performance and its implementation should follow a consistent process-oriented integration, an approach based on the triple bottom line and focused on the managerial perspective is required to deriving a consistent business case for ecodesign. This research aims at proposing a simulation-based framework geared towards laying out the fundamental rationale of the business case for ecodesign implementation. The study particularly builds upon the EcodesignMaturity Model (EcoM2), a management framework that offers a systematic, step by-step approach for the integration of ecodesign into product development processes. With more than 600 ecodesign practices systematized and organized according to maturity levels, the EcoM2offers an application method with 4 steps,organized in two phases (Figure 1). The simulation framework draws upon the current and desired capabilities of ecodesign practices, and offers an integrative outlook into how capability building will potentially affect corporate indicators over time, such as revenue, market share, expenses, risk, employe eproductivity, among others. It is expected that decision makers use the business case simulator to assess the potential benefits of ecodesign and test multiple scenarios (what-if questions) with a view to deriving more robust implementation policies, in alignment with corporate sustainability strategy and main drivers.